Improvement in quartz-crushers



Patented Sept. 22, 1863.

J. D. WHELPLEY.

Quartz Crusher.

Ell/04% 1 4 N. PETERS. Phntn-Lithcgnpher. Washingkm. D. c.

fur V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN D. WHELPLEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

EMPROVEMENT lN QUARTZ-CRUSHERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,072 dated September22, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES D. WHELPLEY, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Mineral-Breakers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the constrnctionand operation of the same,reference beinghad tothe accompanyingdrawings,forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is avertical section through'the center of the machine; Fig. 2, a front viewof the tnb;.'Fig. 3, a top view of the revolving arms carrying theblades or cutters, and Fig. tan end view ofone of the cutters and its 0trryin g-arm Like parts are indicated by the same letters in all thedrawings.

The nature of my invention consists, first, in causing radial blades orcutters attached to rotating arms to revolve with great rapidity closeto the bottom and side of a suitable tub or cylinder, so that thematerial to be broken shall,by its own gravity, fall upon said blades,and, by the rapid blows of the latter, without touching the bottom ofthe cylinder, and held entirely by its own inertia in a free and openspace, be effectually broken or shivered to pieces; and, second, indriving the comminuted substance by centrifugal force through a gratin gor suitable perforations in the circular side ofthe horizontal tub orcylinder, above the radial blades, without the aid of any airblast,either generated for that purpose by the machine itself or introducedfrom a blower.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, Iwill now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is a stand or frame for supporting the machine.

B is a cylindrical tub, of thick cast-iron or other suitable material,about three and a half feet in diameter and two feet and a half indepth. This cylinder rests on a flat castiron bottom, 0, being kept frommoving laterally by means of the annular cleat c. 4

I) is the removable top of the tub, of wood or iron, shaped as shown inFig. 1, and provided with a central opening, E, through which thematerial to be broken is thrown.

The bottom O and the side B of the tub are securely held together bymeans of bolts F and nuts f, the top D being used as a washer for thatpurpose, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

'In the side or periphery of the tub, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is anopening extending about one-quarter round,(more or less,) and over thisopening and confined to the tub by means of screws a is a grate, N, thedistance between the bars of which may vary from one-eighth of an inchto two inches or more, according to the size to which the substance isto be broken. This grate may be furnished with crossbars, or aperforated plate may be substituted therefor.

G is a vertical shaft resting in the step H and passing up through asuitable box, I, attached to the bottom of the tub and through a centralhole in the same, as shown in Fig. 1.

J is a pulley fast to the shaft G, by means of which and suitablebelting said shaft and its appendages may be made to revolve with anyrequired velocity.

K is a cast-iron wheel provided with radial arms, as shown in Fig. 3,and through its center is passed and confined the shaft G.

L L L L are the blades or cutters, of hardened steel or chilledcast-iron, attached by means of screws m to the radial arms of K, asseen in Fig. 3, and at an angle of about fifteen degrees, as shown inFig. 4, so that in striking the substance to be broken they will have atendency to throw it up. I do not, however, confine myself to theemployment of any particular number of blades, nor to any particularshape or method of attachin g them, as all these may be obviously variedwithout affecting the principle of my invention.

As represented in Fig. 1, the under sides of the blades or cutters aremade to revolve as near to the bottom 0 of the tub as possible, withouttouching it. The outer ends of the blades are also carried as near aspossible to the side B of the tub.

My machine is applicable to the purpose of comminuting any hardsubstances that can be broken or cut with a blunt edge, as of acold-chisel, which it does by a hammer-like, shivering edge-blow uponthe falling substance the latter being held to receive the blow solelyby its own inertia in a free and open space, whereas in all othermachines the object has been accomplished either by crushing betweenrollers or by grinding-i. 0., passing the material between two hard orcorrugated surfaces, either near together or in contact. Such machines,however, are compara tively slow in their operation, liable to clog, andrequire a great amount of power to drive them, whereas my machine, withthe same expenditure of power, will accomplish many times the amount ofwork that can be done by any other machine extant for a similar purpose,and, as the substances to be broken are neither wedged in nor forcedbetween two rigid surfaces, nor in any way confined, but are, on thecontrary, constantly falling or suspended in the air in a free and openspace, it is impossible for the machine ever to be clogged or rupturedby its contents. Hence the friction and consumption of power must becomparatively small, and pieces of any size that can enter the tub canbe broken without rupturing or injuring the machine, which is not thecase with any other breaking-engine, except the stamp.

By means of a belt on tile driving-pulley J, the blades or cutters L aremade to revolve with great rapidity, (about fifteen hundred times aminute,) so that a blow from one of them has the same shattering efi'ectas a bullet discharged from a gun, or the quick percussion of a hammer,and comminution of the substance to be broken is much more rapidly andeasily accomplished thanit could be either by crushing, grinding, ortrituration in a close iron case.

The material to be broken is thrown into the tub through the opening E,and falls until its lowest point receives a shivering blow from the edgeof the cutters L, by which it is constantly tossed forward and upward,again to fall upon the cutters, until it is broken into piecessufficiently small to be driven through the grate or perforations N bycentrifugal force.

Large bones-such as oX-headsor masses of. stone are sufficientlycomminuted to pass through fiourin g-mills as rapidly as two attendantscan toss them in, or at the rate of fiveor six tons per hour of bones,and double that amount of rocky material. The degree of comminution willdepend upon the distance between the gratings or the size of theperforations N, and, as these may be varied, the same machine can bemade to do different sizes of Work.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my improvement,what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Revolving the radial cutters L, or their equivalents, close to thebottom and side of a suitable tub or cylinder, and causing the materialwhich is to be broken to fall by its own weight upon saidcuttersnvhereby, while falling in a free and open space and held byinertia alone, it is sufficiently broken or shivered to pieces,substantially as described.

2. In combination with the horizontally rei olving cutters L, the grateor perforations N in the periphery of the tub, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

JAMES D. XVHELPLEY.

Witnesses J. W. SoREN, JOHN J. SonEN.

